CBS58 2005-06 Equipment and Switching Failures

[Joseph S]

All inferior 14Mbps just kicked the bucket on Letterman.

[DanDyer]

Low Power was on by 10:55pm and full power returned at 11:34PM on the 28th.
Dan Dyer
Chief Engineer WDJT/WMLW/WYTU

[SRW1000]

Yikes!  At about 7:30 PM tonight, 58.1 became unwatchable.  No sound and the picture was completely pixelated.  It lasted a couple of minutes and then it was fine.

Scott

[bradsmainsite]

It had also been that way earlier this afternoon total pixalation completely
unwatchable! :bang:

58.2 was fine no problems.

[DanDyer]

At 7:30pm, we were finishing making our bandwidth pool for the multicasting.  The system required rebooting, so you most likely saw the breakups as the system was restabilizing.  Early in the afternoon, we were testing the limits and settings of our encoders, so you most likely saw our testing.  Also later in the evening, if you have cable, you may have seen pixelization and freezing.  We have changed our allocations to compensate.
Dan Dyer

[SRW1000]

At 7:30pm, we were finishing making our bandwidth pool for the multicasting.  The system required rebooting, so you most likely saw the breakups as the system was restabilizing.  Early in the afternoon, we were testing the limits and settings of our encoders, so you most likely saw our testing.  Also later in the evening, if you have cable, you may have seen pixelization and freezing.  We have changed our allocations to compensate.
Dan Dyer

Thanks for the update, Dan.

Say, do you know anything about the odd audio artifact some of us noticed in this post:  Annoying Audio Artifact Repeating During Survivor on CBS58 ?

I didn't seem to notice it tonight, but I wasn't paying all that much attention to it.

Thanks,

Scott

[DanDyer]

Actually, yes I do.
We noticed it sporadically, and finally determined that our Dolby encoder did not like our stereo audio per the recommended settings and levels from CBS.  We threw those recommended settings out the door and came up with our own settings.  Since that time late last week, we haven't heard the "hissing" and you should have noticed that our Dolby audio levels are down to a comfortable range.
Dan Dyer

[StarvingForHDTV]

Actually, yes I do.
We noticed it sporadically, and finally determined that our Dolby encoder did not like our stereo audio per the recommended settings and levels from CBS.  We threw those recommended settings out the door and came up with our own settings.  Since that time late last week, we haven't heard the "hissing" and you should have noticed that our Dolby audio levels are down to a comfortable range.
Dan Dyer

I'll have to check that out.  I always felt your audio levels were set too high.  It's too bad the network recommends incorrect settings to the stations.

[SRW1000]

Actually, yes I do.
We noticed it sporadically, and finally determined that our Dolby encoder did not like our stereo audio per the recommended settings and levels from CBS.  We threw those recommended settings out the door and came up with our own settings.  Since that time late last week, we haven't heard the "hissing" and you should have noticed that our Dolby audio levels are down to a comfortable range.
Dan Dyer

Thanks again for another update, Dan.  It's great to hear that you're keeping an eye on these types of problems.  I'll keep an ear out for it when Survivor comes back.

Scott

[SRW1000]

There's a big problem with the OTA sound during The Amazing Race tonight.  It kind of sounds like the static sound I was hearing during Survivor, but it's almost constant.

Scott

[Joseph S]

It's the same thing. They finally switched to national feed where the problem doesn't exist. You can tell the difference by absence or presence of white junk at the top of the feed and blacks too.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I think the audio levels are still way too high on 58-1.  Also I noticed that the programming guide is sending out totally wrong information about what show I am watching and what is coming up in the future.

[Nels Harvey]

I think the audio levels are still way too high on 58-1.  Also I noticed that the programming guide is sending out totally wrong information about what show I am watching and what is coming up in the future.

I agree with Starving for HDTV!  The 58-1 levels out of my receiver are always hot compared with all the other OTA HD signals in Milwaukee.  I have all the other signals pretty much balanced with the SD levels I receive, but whenever I switch to 58-1, I need to turn down my audio gain.  For example, if my preferred audio level is at 30  for everyone else, 58-1 needs to be lowered to about 22 on my TV.  It seems to be about 30 to 40% higher than the others.

On analog broadcast signals there are limits set by the FCC for deviation.  Often on cable there are noticable variations from one service to another because the audio deviation is not regulated as an OTA signal has to be.  Does OTA HD audio have similar parameters for levels as the analog counterpart, or is it simply set to please the Program Directors?

Nels....

[Static]

In the Past Things like Amazing Race and Survior would look way better they they do now.  I belive they use to send the National feed and it looked very good but the last few months they have been doing the Upconvertion themselfs and it looks bad.  I know I can not be the Only one noticing this.  Why are they doing this? ?

And yes I know they are not HD but they looked way better before.

[Joseph S]

And yes I know they are not HD but they looked way better before.

They no longer send the national feed because it actually requires that someone does a job. CBS58, like the other local affiliates, no longer cares about the quality of their product. They don't care that it looks like crap or that you may hear a hissing snake during the local upconvert. They are perfectly happy making money off of our airwaves at the local community's expense. This was a major factor in my decision to pursue employment elsewhere in the country. I will soon have access to multiple markets this Summer and none will be Milwaukee. Milwaukee HDTV is headed for the toilet.